India hard and strong, China softens its stand

India’s position on the Doklam stand-off with China on a Bhutanese territory was further strengthened when the National Security Adviser of India, Ajit Doval met state councillor of China, Yang Jiechi in Beijing on Thursday.

Mr. Yang, who is the Chinese nominee in the Sino-Indian special representative level dialogue with Doval, holds a powerful position in the state council. The success of the first official meet after the increased tensions can be gauged by the words of Mr. Yang when instead of choosing harsh words he said that the two countries are not “born rivals”.

Also there was a strong plea to avoid the possibility of a war by the official Xinhua news agency when they said, “Most economies, including those in the West, will find themselves negatively affected by an India-China war in a globalised and intertwined world today”. The moment was taken by golden hands by India as the New Delhi reminded Beijing of the agreements on peace and tranquility that date back to 1993.

This was the first time in months when any Chinese media issued a statement on the stand-off without demanding India to pull its troops back. Earlier China’s official spokespersons have accused India of trespassing into Chinese territory, ignoring India’s say about the stand-off.

Mr. Doval has earlier saved the country from many escalations to war and this time, when he is in Beijing to meet the Chinese president Xi Jinping, we can count on him. We know that Mr. Doval would keep India’s head high in front of the dragon and would surely make it clearer to the world that it ain’t India of 1962.